(19)
(11) EP 0 817 139 A3

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION

(88) Date of publication A3:
29.12.1999 Bulletin 1999/52

(43) Date of publication A2:
07.01.1998 Bulletin 1998/02

(21) Application number: 97110819.6

(22) Date of filing: 01.07.1997
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC)6: G07F 17/16, G11B 27/00
(84) Designated Contracting States:
AT BE CH DE DK ES FI FR GB GR IE IT LI LU MC NL PT SE

(30) Priority: 01.07.1996 US 680500

(71) Applicant: SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.
Mountain View, California 94043-1100 (US)

(72) Inventor:
  • Tognazzini, Bruce
    Woodside, California 94062 (US)

(74) Representative: Pellmann, Hans-Bernd, Dipl.-Ing. et al
Patentanwaltsbüro Tiedtke-Bühling-Kinne & Partner Bavariaring 4
80336 München
80336 München (DE)

   


(54) Device for enabling listeners to preview music recordings


(57) A bar code reader, a wireless transceiver, an earphone jack and a battery are integrated into a pen sized device. The bar code reader is used to scan the product identification code or music packaging. The product code is sent to a central computer or a music store where one or more stored digital samples of the music reside in a database. One or more music samples are retrieved and sent to the pen sized device where the sample is converted to audio signals for listening by a user over the earphone jack.






Search report